Francisco Rodriguez took nearly 40,000 fans at Miller Park along with him on a high wire act Wednesday afternoon, but in the end the Milwaukee Brewers packed their bags for Cincinnati having gone 4-2 out of the gate in the second half.
While I'm not one who felt this nine game stretch was particularly important in the grand scheme of things, I will say this – the team has been impressive in its response to the pressure put on it by manager Ron Roenicke and general manager Doug Melvin.
"We know what's at stake right now," second baseman Rickie Weeks said. "We just gotta go out there and try and put our best foot forward. I think we're doing a pretty good job of that. We've been playing pretty good baseball as of late. We just gotta close the door."
K-Rod has closed the door the last two nights, and former closer John Axford pitched well in middle relief today. If there has been one thing perhaps keeping this team from putting together a seven, eight-game winning streak, it's been the back end of the 'pen.
One could argue the team should have went 5-1 (even 6-0?) this home stand, which is a good thing. With bullpen instability, nagging injuries and new faces in the clubhouse, the team could have just as easily collapsed upon itself playing the first place Pittsburgh Pirates and hot-hitting St. Louis Cardinals.
They didn't, and I don't suspect they will on this road trip to first place Cincinnati and Philadelphia. From the sounds of it, neither does Roenicke.
"I think we know we can play with these guys," he said. "If we play a good game we can play with these guys. That showed in all six games. I know Cincinnati is playing really good ball right now, they've got real good pitching and I like their offense, too. So we've got to go in there and play the same kind of game."
It's mid-July, and the Brewers are three games under .500. They're still in fourth place in the division and as of this post, 7.5 games behind the Reds.
Winning five of the next six restarts the season, and creates some excitement for the seven-game home stand against the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros July 26 through Aug.. 1.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
